Teen comedy audience reasearch questionnaire

A typical teen comedy is targeted at teenagers and young adults. The plot is based on topics that would interest teenagers such as, coming of age and rebellion. These topics are often presented in stereotypical ways. This genre often, if not always has a happy ending.

1. What gender are you?

Female

Male

2. What age bracket do you fall into?

16 - 24

25 - 35

36 - 45

46 +

3. What do you think is the best way to promote a teen comedy and why? (Circle two options)

Theatrical trailer ____________________________

Television spot ____________________________

Billboard/ Posters ____________________________

Magazine/Newspaper features ____________________________

Radio ____________________________

Internet pop ups ____________________________

Other ____________________________

4. How does a trailer capture your attention? (tick 2 boxes)

Actors

Narration/ Voiceover

Music

Images

Other __________________________

5. What type of setting do you expect to see in a teen comedy? (tick two boxes)

High school

Workplace

Shopping Centre

Home Party

Other ___________________

6. What type of characters do you expect to see in a teen comedy? (tick 2 boxes)

Students

Interns

Bitchy group

Teachers

Popular people

Parents/Family Geek

7. What storylines/themes would you expect to see in a teen comedy?

Love triangle

Dilemma

Change in social status

Other ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. What makes a teen comedy funny? (tick 2 boxes)

Characters

Sound effects

Nature of humour

Situations

Unexpected event

Other _____________________

9. Where would you prefer to watch a teen comedy? (Tick 1 box)

Independent cinema (not a chain)

Multiplex cinema (Vue, Odian, Empire etc.)

10. How much would you be prepared to pay to see a teen comedy? (Tick 1 box)

£5-£10

£10-£15

£15-£20

THANK-YOU FOR ANSWERING OUR QUESTIONNAIRE :)

Clueless trailer analysis by Charles Cadman

Themes and ideas:

· Wealth

· Puppy love

· High School clichés

Textual Analysis:

Camera shots:

· Mostly mid-shots used, as they are extremely important in establishing and exaggerating the character’s lavish lifestyles and the locations they visit. Most mid-shots include the high school campus, classrooms, homes and restaurants

· The first shot (mid-shot) of main character (Cher Horowitz), gradually zooms in on her whilst jumping to close-ups of different people’s facial expressions about what she is saying gives audience clues to her personality and nature as a character

· There is a close-up mid way through the trailer of ‘Cher’s’ facial expression when ‘Christian’ complements her, after this, the camera pans up her legs implying sexual energy between the characters

· Short mid-close-ups showing different relationships throughout the film as to give the audience some knowledge

· Last shot is of a humorous nature leaving the audience wanting more entertainment

The camera shots in this trailer generally help to establish status between characters and to reflect the setting and location of scenes. The shots also convey the difference in personalities and status.

Mise En Scene:

· Costume consists of teachers and parents in formal dress representing there authority over the teenage characters

· Most of the teenage characters at the school are shown to be wearing expensive designer casual wear reflecting their wealth

· Costume also plays a role in terms of conveying the character’s personas e.g. ‘Cher’ is shown wearing lots of bright colors and strong patterns emulating her extravagance

· Black boards, books, desks all show the location and setting of the film

· Lighting is mainly high-key reflecting a natural setting of a school

· Shadow on ‘Christian’s’ face as opposed to the brightness on ‘Cher’s’ face conveying the difference in status and personality

Mise En Scene plays a key role in separating characters in terms of wealth and personality. The costume tends to relfect the importance of wealth and social strata. Lighting and other props are used to assist the camera shots in reflecting the environments of the school and the character's houses.

Editing:

· Slow cuts between the first shots of the trailer, though gradually getting snappier, keeping the audience on edge not allowing them to get bored

· Spinning transitions between some shots in keeping with the energetic feel of the film

· Credits pop up at regular intervals throughout the film in a colorful and youthful font which represents the immature personas of the characters

· Unlike most comedy film trailers, this one doesn’t have a narrator talking throughout, this is because the shots used for the trailer are informative and humorous enough to get an audience into cinemas without the use of voice-over

Editing is used mainly to create enigma and pace in the trailer keeping the audience engaged with the preview and information about the film. It also tends to be in keeping with the comedy genre.

Sound:

· Rock/pop music is used in the trailer, like that of the music the characters would listen to creating a bond between the audience and characters

· Music changes twice throughout, playing three different sound tracks at pivotal moments in the trailer causing the mood to change as well

· Music tends to stop altogether for a second when there is a particularly important or hilarious moment

· A car screeching sound effect is used, also to symbolize a particularly significant moment

The music used in the trailer is used to reflect the characters' ages and stereotypical cliques they fit into. The other sound effects are used to put emphasis on particular humurours or romantic moments/shots.

Mean Girls Trailer Analysis By Ola Kargbo-Reffell

Code and conventions:
• Voice over to from the main character to introduce herself and dialogue from the movie used as voice over
• Titles with main character’s (Lindsay Lohan) name
• When something funny happens the music stops and then starts up again

Technical analysis:

1) Editing

- lots of quick shots
- shot reverse shot when showing some conversations between the characters
- screen is split with a black line to show both characters during a telephone call
- pace of shots speed up as the climax of the movie is introduced
- Ends with the title, in which the colours match the words; the word mean is red and the word girls is pink as pink is usually associated with girls and red for evil, danger etc.
All of the editing helps to make the trailer more appealing to the eye instead of being the same throughout.

2) Camera
- lots of medium close ups and close ups used
- long shots used to introduce ‘the plastics’ and sow motions as they all walk
- camera pans over different school cliques to reveal to audience and character
- not really any special use of angles
camera is mostly impacting in close ups to emphasise humour or negative moments.

3) Mise-en-scene

- set in a school
- ‘the plastics’ are dressed very fashionable, girly, lots of make up
- most in set in school so a lot of school related props
- girls wear heels and belly tops
- Halloween party, fancy dress
Helps to give a feel for the film

4) Sound

- diegetic: dialogue and action in scenes shown
- non diegetic: music played, there is upbeat music to match the tone of the beginning of the trailer, then more pop music to emphasise it is a teen movie. Also non-diegetic dialogue of the characters lines from the movie is played over the images
Really helps in the trailer to create a mood and to make film more appealing.

Bridget Jones Diary trailer analysis by Lucy Sangster

I chose to analyse the trailer of Bridget Jones Dairy as it is an English comedy which features aspects that we wish to include in our own film trailer.

Codes and conventions
• Bridget Jones is a British film
• It revolves around Bridget’s failed love life
• Bridget feels she is unattractive and tries to change this
• It is set in a workplace
• Many embarrassing situations occur
• Bad boy (the boss) vs. good boy (childhood friend)
• Characters are all posh and well spoken
• Funny friends
• Bridget is generally an unlucky person

Overall the codes and conventions show what is needed to achieve a successful British comedy.

Lighting
• Natural lighting used indoors
• Dark lighting used in gym, to show this is a ‘dark’ time for Bridget, something she does not want to do
• First view of the boss in a dark lift, surrounded by a dark background colour, shows he is a dark character who will not bring good news
• Darker light when Bridget dreams of her boss, shows that this is a bad idea
• In restaurant darker lighting is used to set the romantic scene between Bridget and her boss
• When fight occurs the street is darkly lit with only street lamps lighting the scene to draw attention to the fight
• At the end when Bridget is in bed and picks up the telephone only candles are shown to be giving off light, this sets the romantic setting of a love nest bedroom

The lighting used in this trailer tends to show the differences between good and bad situations, with bright light being used in positive situations and a darker light used in more negative situations.

Camera
• Close up of Bridget’s uncle asking her ‘So how is the love life’ shows that this is the main narrative of the film
• ‘I haven’t had a sniff of a date in over 18 months’ long shot used to show around 20 background characters reactions, all turn around opened mouthed
• Long shot of Christmas church setting to set the scene and time of seasons, snow tells us its winter. Pans out into bird’s eye view
• Close up shots to show embarrassment on characters faces ‘You remember when she ran around naked on your lawn’
• Low angle shot of Bridget being thrown out of taxi by her friends, makes it look like the friends have got power over her
• Close up of Bridget’s face with London in the background, sets the scene of where she works
• Long shot of the bridge she is walking on, again to set the scene
• Low angle shot of Bridget throwing bad items, such as vodka bottle, into the bin. Makes Bridget look powerful, as though she will beat her addictions
• High angle shot of objects in bin make them look weak
• Close up of characters large pants, shows her trademark
• High angle shot of Bridget in gym, shows her as powerful
• Close up with Bridget and two friends, shows the importance of their friendship
• Close up of Bridget writing in dairy shows its importance
• First shot of the boss is a close up which familiarises the audience with his character
• Close up of Bridget and her boss kissing shows that they get together
• Close up of Bridget saying ‘I have a boyfriend and he’s perfect ’ filmed as ironic
• Long shot of country lane shows that her and her boss are going somewhere on holiday
• High angle shot of boss falling into water off boat
• Close up of Bridget laughing, shows her happiness when with her boss
• Close up of Mark (other love rival)
• Mid shot of Bridget in bunny outfit, shows her playful side
• ‘To Bridget who we love’ close up of Mark to show this is relevant to his feelings
• Close up of Bridget doing karaoke doing and others reactions to her singing
• Mid shot of Bridget and boss at dinner, captures the scene
• High angle shot of Mark when boss falls to floor after he has punched him
• Mid shot of Bridget and friends to show their reaction
• Mid shot of Bridget picking up phone, see mark in background picks up phone ‘wanted sex goddess’...’Oh Hi Dad’
• Shot reverse shot between Mark and boss when Mark asks him to fight

In this trailer close up shots are often used to show characters reactions, usually to embarrassing or unfortunate situations. Mid or long shots are used to set the scene so that the audience gets a full picture of what is going on.

Editing
• Starts with a black fade in
• A quick white flash is used to emphasize ‘I haven’t had a love life’
• White fade in to Miramax films
• Black fade in to the main story line ‘Mark you’ve met Bridget’
• White fade out from humiliation to next scene, which is even more humiliating
• White flash as Bridget falls out of cab, emphasizes what has happened
• Black fade out which shows time has passed to the next day with Bridget going to work
• Fade in to scene of setting (short scene)
• White fade in to when she introduces the diary
• ‘Bridget Jones Diary’ credits fly out of the diary onto a black background, which shows that the diary is Bridget Jones, that it is a focal point of the film and that it is the title of the film.
• Fade out to Bridget holding big pants
• Overlapping transition to Bridget trying on pants
• Quick flash from Bridget trying on in gym in the day, to by herself at night
• Another flash to Bridget falling off gym equipment, white fade out
• White fade out of Bridget with friends to Bridget alone at Christmas
• ‘To any of the following...’ what she then begins to write appears as credits on the screen in bold with a black background, each word appears in a different colours (alcoholic, workaholic, peeping toms and perverts) Slides to the right
• This scene fades into the next scene of Bridget dreaming of her boss
• White fade out of boss appearing, then black fade out to boss saying ‘ want to go for dinner’ white fade out then turns to them kissing then turns into next scene of him revealing her pants
• White fade out to ‘Have you got a boyfriend’
• Lots of quick black fade outs to show Bridget and her bosses relationship, and to then show Mark and Bridget’s relationship
• Main characters are shown individually up against background with dates showing the diary link
• Freeze at friends reaction to the fight between Mark and the boss
• At the end ‘Bridget Jones sex goddess’ white flash to ‘Dad hi!’

Editing in this trailer is used to draw attention to character traits and significant parts of the film that they want the audience to pay particular attention to as it will entice them into wanting to see it.

Sound
• Starts with drum beat then jazz music ‘how’s your love life’ silent pause ‘I haven’t had a boyfriend’ silence, loud trumpets to show party guests reactions
• Have you met Miss Jones, as the audience gets introduced to her
• Voice over ‘In every life there comes a time to turn the page over to a new beginning’
• Quiet bang when Bridget falls out of taxi
• Fast paced music when Bridget decides to change her lifestyle
• When Bridget falls off the gym equipment music changes to show that she has given up trying to be good, shows everything going wrong
• Elevator ding for the boss, puts all attention on him
• ‘I have the perfect boyfriend Father’ twinkle sound, as though magic
• Voiceover, How she is finding herself caught between a man who may be too good to be true and the man who’s so wrong he could be right
• Dreamy music on close up of Bridget
• Lively music for close up of two main men

The sound used throughout the trailer emphasizes particular moments that due to the sound used the audience would not be able to miss. As well as this the voiceovers give the audience a clue to what the film is about in an attempt to entice them to go and see the film.

Mis en scene
• Bridget in plain old fashioned clothes
• In relatives house
• Cigarettes, vodka bottle, a book called ‘what men want’ all put in bin
• Big pants, characters trademark
• Gym equipment
• All friends smoke, bad influences?
• Bridget lives alone in a small flat in London
• Boss looks smart and sexy in all black suit and combed hair
• Old and expensive car that boss owns
• Boats appear on Bridget and bosses boat trip
• Bridget in bunny outfit, shows her fun side
• Bridget does karaoke smoking with silver tassels on her head
• Date in restaurant
• Fight on street
• Posh uncle
• Well off family
• Christmas time, snow
• Set in London, London accents, taxis, streets
• Boss wears big aviator glasses, pretentious
• Bridget does bad kareoke

The mis en scene used throughout the trailer tells the audience a bit about what the film is about. It sets the scenes and gives us a taste of what the characters are like.